The Moonlight's Shadow
by Ebenbild
Summary: Draco Malfoy once fell in love with the moon. Regretfully, the moon is untouchable by a human - and Draco is nothing but human.


_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Somewhen_ _after_ _first_ _year_ _._

 _Written for the GTS's Competition 'Anti-Valentine.' Exactly 1264 words text. Prompts in cursive. Ebenbild, Hogwarts, Gryffindor._

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sSsSsSsSs

 _ **THE**_ _ **MOONLIGHT'S SHADOW**_

sSs

She was a symbol of freedom in his eyes. When he saw her, he thought of wilderness, of tenderness, of the endless night sky and the untameable sea. Her hair was as light as his, but while his own was a plain light blond, hers was spun moonlight and captured starlight. Her eyes were always dreamy, but for the darkest nights when he could see the starlight shining in their depths. She was his moon, his everything in school.

She was the freedom he could only see while looking out of the bars of his metaphorical prison. She was the only thing he dreamed about at night and the only thing he wanted to possess that he could never have.

The day he saw her first, he wanted to fall on his knees in front of her and beg her to marry him right out.

 _"It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you,"_ he wanted to tell her. _"No one will ever love you as much as I do."_

But she was born as the moonlight, and like moonlight she was out of his reach, far too far from his touch to be affected by his presence. His hands would reach through her, never touching the Elvin like figure. His eyes would never be able to lay claim on her, because whatever he did, whatever he would do in the end, she was still a queen compared to his peasantry.

And he loved her for it, while at the same time he was burning with hatred.

"Luna!" He called out every night when the starlight was gone from his vision and only the image of the moon remained. "Luna, beloved!"

But even in his dreams he couldn't hear her calling his name, never his name.

"Luna, please!" But she would just smile at the people behind him, not looking at him, never seeing him at all.

" _Why do I feel like this?"_ He asked himself, but it was always her voice that answered him.

"Because you love me – even if I'd stab you and twist the blade inside your chest you would continue to love me," her voice said and it was right.

Without her, he was a _wilted flower_ , an empty cauldron, an extinct flame. And he couldn't help it but abhor her for it. She should have been nothing to him!

Blood-traitor, tainted, unworthy!

Loony Lovegood! Crazy Luna! Bulgy Eyes!

Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!

She should be the one to _grovel_ on her knees in front of him! She should be the one to beg for his attention, the one to call his name, the one to wilt because of unrequited love!

And yet, here he was, crying on his bed while believing that it would never be over.

"Luna!" He cried. "Please, Luna, beloved!"

And in his memory, she would smile at him – no, not at him, never at him. She would smile, but her smile was never for him.

" _Tell me you love me!"_ He begged in his sleep. "Tell me, please!" But she would look away and refuse him, unable to even see him since she was his queen and he her lowly servant.

" _I can't do this anymore!"_ He finally cried. "Please release me from your spell!"

That night he fled from his dorm, out, out, out into the moonlight to beg for his freedom.

He never expected to meet her that night, never expected to find her sitting beneath the trees, her eyes burning with the _fire_ of her spirit.

He stopped just a few feet away from her, captured by the starlight in her hair and the fire in her eyes.

"Draco Malfoy," she said, and her voice sounded like the wind, like spring and hope and warmth.

In that moment he knew that he would never be free of her spell – it didn't matter if she lived or died, if he lived or died or if he or she married somebody else. She would always be inside his heart, she would always be his one and only beloved.

He fell to his knees in front of her, his ears ringing from the sound of his name spoken by her voice. And she reached out towards him, her ethereal fingers slender and soft and warm, so warm!

He closed his eyes, savouring in the imagination of her touch before her fingers even reached him.

Then his thoughts returned to the present. Her eyes were like molten moonlight, far, ethereal and not from this world. Her gaze was kind, but it wasn't directed at him. She saw him, but couldn't see him at all at the same time – and he wanted to cry when the knowledge hit home.

His eyes snapped open again.

"Don't you dare to even think about touching me! _"_ He growled, hurling himself away from her, fleeing.

His eyes were leaking molten moonlight. His heart was crying out to him to return to where he was and yet, he knew that this was the end. This was the only night he would ever be near her, ever look in her eyes and see himself mirrored in them.

So he stumbled away, not looking where he was running to as long as he was running from her and her indifferent kindness.

Oh, how he loved her for her kindness towards someone she didn't really care about! Oh, how he hated her for her kindness towards him because she didn't care truly about him! Not like he wanted her to care for him, at least…

So he did the only thing he could and ran.

He ran until the uneven ground brought him to his knees again and then he sat there to stare into the darkness of the night, his surroundings barely illuminated by the moonlight.

She was his freedom. The one thing he longed for, would always long for, but never reach. She was the one thing that would forever be denied for him, her eyes blind to the love hidden behind the cool façade of ice, hidden behind the calculating gaze of the serpent.

 _"No one will ever love you as much as I do,"_ he told the moonlight, closing his eyes in desperation. _"It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you."_

"I know," the moon answered him, Luna's voice so soft that he had to strain his ears to hear it. "I know, but I am sorry, Draco Malfoy. I will never be able to love you like you love me."

A warm hand caressed his sweat-stained face, but when he opened his eyes again, he was alone. Only the wind was softly caressing the grass, begging for forgiveness because there was no way for him to stay, because there was no way for him to fight the pressure he was under, to free himself from the prison that was his life.

Draco Malfoy was a prisoner of his life like the wind was a prisoner of its nature. Both of them could never stay – even if Draco Malfoy wished to do exactly that.

Not that it mattered. He would never be able to reach the moon with his bare hands, if he stayed or not did not matter to the moon.

On the other hand Draco Malfoy could never afford to be a traitor.

So there was just one solution: He would have to lose the moon.

He pulled out his wand, situating its tip on his temple.

Then he smiled up towards the sky, towards the unreachable love in his life.

He closed his eyes.

"Oblivate!"

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 _Not sure how that turned out, considering that I don't write love stories, good or bad, normally._

 _Ebenbild,_

 _Gryffindor, Hogwarts._

 _Paring:_ Luna Lovegood/ Draco Malfoy

 _Prompts used:_ "I can't do this anymore."/ "Why do I feel like this?"/ "Tell me you love me."/ "No one will ever love you as much as I do."; "It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." The fault in our stars; Grovel _;_ Wilted flower/ Fire _;_

 _Emotions:_ Inferior


End file.
